Tag: Technology

Banana paper can increase potato yield. Gorse is another good source of protein (21%). Globally there are as many as 30,000 edible species of wild plants. Now, in order to increase the variety of foodstuffs available, a Netherlands-based startup is getting them ready for commercial farming. Without any genetic engineering. Instead the physical constituents of a wild plant are...

Using smart-home devices needn’t mean losing your privacy. Hidden CCTV cameras in holiday rentals or hotels still pose a risk, however. Enter a research team in South Korea, which has developed a low-cost smartphone attachment with 15 integrated grid-like LED lamps and accompanying software. While the smartphone is used to film suspicious items like picture frames or clocks, the...

Coffee grounds have much to offer. So too waste from fruit, vegetables or nuts, as shown by the female founder of an American startup. Using specially developed refining technology, waste from agricultural farms and food plants is put to good use. Key to the enterprise is the polarity of water, along with pressure and temperature changes. The process enables...

An innovative powder staunches heavy bleeding. Meanwhile, a British research team has developed a double-impact dressing from plant-based polymers to reduce wound infections. To do so, they created two very similar nanofibres from furan polyamide. One fibre received two additional carbon atoms to make it water-repellent, while an antibiotic was incorporated into the second fibre. Both were woven into...

Alternatives to single-use plastic are available - thanks to spider’s silk. Meanwhile, a US research team has been inspired by jumping spiders’ vision to create a highly efficient 3D camera. Thanks to their multi-layered retina, the spiders can compute distances very quickly. The camera, like the spiders’ retina, takes two images of the same area, each with a different...

A special ring could make digital communication more secure in future. Now, two students from Germany have designed a bracelet to help deaf people communicate with others in real-life conversation. The bracelet translates sign language into spoken word in real time. A sensor in the bracelet measures electric muscle activity in the forearm during signing; at the same time,...

Some have turned to chickpeas as a coffee alternative. An invigorating espresso, however, remains hard to replace. Now, an Australian research team has come up with the next best thing: espresso prepared using 75% less energy than before. The trick lies in the use of ultrasound waves rather than boiling water. A transducer attached to the side of the...

Coffee grounds are a versatile thing: used in everything from sustainable concrete to glasses frames, even offering natural oils for cosmetics. But as a cocoa alternative? It might sound far-fetched, but that’s exactly what a USA-based startup is trying to achieve. The logic is simple enough: from a taste perspective there are similarities between coffee and cocoa. First the...